BOYS BASKETBALL: Panthers can't hang on for playoff victory

TUSCOLA Permian’s first boys basketball playoff win in 14 years was well within reach Tuesday night.

But the Panthers couldn’t quite corral it.

Arlington Bowie, which was a regional semifinalist each of the last two years, displayed its postseason mettle late in a Class 5A bi-district playoff at Jim Ned High School. The Volunteers scored as many points in the fourth quarter as they did through the first three and outlasted Permian 38-35 in a defensive struggle that was close from start to finish.

“Just a heartbreaker,” said Permian point guard Robert Thomas, who scored a team-high 10 points but none in the final period. “We came in here and tried to get it done, and we fell short.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Permian vs. Arlington Bowie

Bowie (14-16), which advanced to face Amarillo High (25-3) in the area round, trailed throughout most of the second half and was down 30-25 when Permian’s Devin Jones made a three-point play with 4 minutes, 49 seconds remaining.

BLOG: Permian's playoff loss after further review

The Panthers (23-7) didn’t make another field goal until there were three seconds left, and at that point the game already had been decided.

Bowie’s Malcolm Hughes started a 13-3 run with a three-point play right after the one by Jones, and Jeremy Senglin gave the Volunteers their first lead since the second quarter with a 3-pointer from the right side with 2:52 remaining to play. Bowie closed out the game by converting free throws and forcing the Panthers into turnovers and missed shots.

“We’re a second-half team, really,” said Senglin, a junior guard who finished with a game-high 11 points. “We’ve got a lot of clutch people, and they play good in the fourth.”

The Panthers led 11-7 at the end of a jittery, defensive-minded first half — holding Bowie to two points and no field goals in the second quarter — but coach Danny Wright said they wasted an opportunity to build an even bigger lead.

Instead of feeding the ball inside and utilizing its size advantage in the post, Permian settled for 3-point shots against Bowie’s zone defense.

The Panthers missed at least 10 long-range shots before Thomas, a freshman, finally made one with 39 seconds left in the half.

“There’s a reason the 3’s open. It’s because you’re not hitting it,” Wright said. “We were probably 0-for-10 or 0-for-12 before (Thomas’ shot), and that’s not our basketball. We don’t do that.

“These guys are small, and I didn’t think we were very aggressive. We were supposed to go straight at them, and I thought we were timid.”

Permian committed itself to attacking the basket in the second half, and it worked for the most part. The Panthers took 16 of their 23 free throws after halftime and made 11 of them, with post players Jones and Shawn Pierce both converting three-point plays in the fourth quarter.

But it was too little, too late against the Volunteers, who made more plays on both ends of the floor down the stretch and sent Permian home with a deflating defeat.

“We wanted it bad, and we thought we were going to come out and play to the best of our best ability,” said Pierce, one of seven Panthers who will return next season. “We thought we were going to get it, but we didn’t.

“We’ve just got to go back in the gym and get it done next year.”

>> Follow Zuvie's Views on Twitter at @OAZuvanich